The Fairy Slayer
by Rosie Moriarty
Summary: The Fairy Tail guild has a secret. A secret that could change the fate of Fiore forever. Evelynne Valkyrie has been lost to the world for ten years. The kingdom of Fiore has moved on without her and her guildmates have grown as wizards in ways she could never have imagined. What mischief will Fairy Tail be up to next?
1. Prologue

Prologue

The job seemed simple when Sherry picked it from the request board. The reward was 300,000 jewel and all the team had to do was lift a spell on some castle ruins.

Lyon and Sherry were surprised when the old hag sent Jura with them, but standing in front of the ruins, staring at swirling shell of dark magic surrounding the castle, her insistence suddenly made sense.

"So how do we break it?" Lyon asked.

"All it needs is a little love," Sherry sang.

"I doubt that'll help us in this situation," Lyon told her.

"This is old magic," Jura said. "It will take a lot of magic power to even have a hope of breaking it."

"It's that strong?" Sherry asked. This job was starting to lose its simplicity of if Iron Rock Jura was concerned about breaking the spell.

"Let's do a combined attack and hit it with everything we've got," Lyon suggested.

Jura rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That might just work."

"Here it goes," Lyon said. He got into his one-handed ice-make stance. "Ice Make Jaguar!"

"Marionette Attack!" Sherry's pet rat, Angelica, appeared and approached the wall, raising her paws to beat on it.

"Rumbling Mount Fuji!"

Jura's attack hit the shell with the full force of a wizard saint behind it, however the force from Jura's attack was absorbed into the shell, as were forces exerted by Lyon's maker magic and Angelica.

Once the shell absorbed the three wizards' magic energy, small lights appeared randomly on the dome of swirling dark magic. Then the lights travelled from their locations around the dome like shooting stars, and stopped in front of the wizards; a design began forming.

The wizards from Lamia Scale were astonished to see the shape that formed. It was the emblem of Fairy Tail.

"I don't understand," Lyon said quietly. "What does this have to do with Fairy Tail?"

"The magic energy coming from the ruins doesn't feel malevolent, so it can't be anything evil," Sherry said. "It just feels…different."

"Whatever this has to do with Fairy Tail, I'm sure we'll find out in those ruins," Jura said as he began walking toward the shell.

He cautiously put his hand on the outer surface of the shell. It was smooth and strong; no wonder the other guilds had such a hard time taking it down. There were no imperfections as far as the wizard saint could tell, either physically or in the spell's casting.

The area around Jura's hand pulsed briefly and the shell dissolved almost instantly. There wasn't even a trace of the shell's magic left. It was like it hadn't even been there at all.

"That was unusual," Sherry said.

"That magic was unlike anything I've ever seen," Lyon said. "If it dissolved when Jura touched it, why did all the wizards who took the job before us fail?"

"I don't know, but I bet the answer's inside that castle," Jura said, walking toward the ruins. Lyon and Sherry followed him.

As they approached the castle, could tell that it was more intact than they had expected, considering they couldn't see it well through the dome. Most of the main keep was intact, minus a few holes here and there. However, the walls that had once protected the castle were little more than a pile of stone blocks. In fact, the three wizards passed the twisted and mangled remains of the iron gate that once stood in the wall.

The strange thing about the castle, though, is that ten years ago it was a fully functioning outpost for the Magical Law Enforcement Unit.

From the information they gathered in town, the three wizards determined that there was some kind of attack at the castle. In a castle full of wizards, most of them had been drained of their magic power and knocked unconscious. A new base had been built at the other side of the neighboring town, but many of the wizards that had been involved in the attack couldn't remember much of what had happened. The resounding story across the board, however, was that Zereph had been involved.

Yet, as the wizards from Lamia Scale approached the castle keep, they could sense no residual black magic.

Surprisingly, the main doors into the castle were still intact and Jura opened them. They swung inward with a squeak.

The interior of the castle was dim, the only light was coming from random holes that had been blasted through the walls and the roof. Broken furniture and discarded weapons littered the stone floor of the keep.

Sherry picked up a torn piece of fabric, turning it to see part of the Magical Law Enforcement emblem. "What was it the survivors said about this place?" she asked.

"That they woke up outside the dome," Lyon said distantly. His attention was focused on a door at the other end of the room. A light was shining out from under the door.

With the others behind him, Lyon pushed the door open, ready for anything that might be lurking behind it.

In the center of the room was the source of the light and the strange magic power that created the dome. The source of the magic power that was emitting from the center of a pillar of energy was…

"A girl?" Lyon said in surprise.

A young woman was suspended within the column of light. Her long blonde, wavy hair floated about her; she would've looked serene if her body hadn't been so battered. Cuts and bruises marred every available surface of her skin and one of her legs appeared to be broken.

Through a particularly large rent in what was left of her white dress a golden Fairy Tail emblem glinted in the light.

Lyon slowly walked toward the column of light the strange girl was suspended in. As he got closer, the light began to fade. The pillar shrank and the girl's body began floating down toward the floor.

Lyon moved to catch her and her body gently settled to rest in his outstretched arms as the light completely vanished. Her chest rose and fell in a gentle rhythm and Lyon could feel her heart beat where his hand rested gently on her side.

"I don't believe it," Jura said quietly, slightly awed.

"What?" Sherry asked, looking up at the wizard saint. "Who is she?"

"The Fairy Slayer, Evelynn Valkyrie."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

The Fairy Tail guild hall was as noisy and crowded as usual. Cana was drinking everyone under the table and Elfman was being his usual "manly" self. Master Makarov was up in his office writing more apology letters, probably for something Natsu, Grey and Erza broke.

Lucy was sitting at the bar, talking to Mira. "To good to see that a seven year absence hasn't changed much," she mentioned, watching her guildmates antics.

"Of course it hasn't changed much," Mira said with a smile as she dried a beer glass. "Especially now we've got the old guild hall back."

"Yeah, it sure is nice to be back here again," Lucy agreed.

"I could take you anytime I want, Grey!" Natsu could be heard above the cacophony of the rest of the guild.

Lucy turned around to see the hot head and Grey almost nose to nose.

"Oh yeah? Bring it on, flame brain." Grey beckoned Natsu toward him.

"Well, here we go again," Lucy said cheerfully.

Erza walked up behind the pair of idiots and grabbed each of them by an ear. "Knock it off, you two. We just got the guild hall back and we don't want to go wrecking it already, now do we?" she said, with a glare to both of them.

"No, ma'am!" Natsu and Grey said quickly and in unison, both of them shaking their heads fast enough that Lucy was surprised they didn't fly off their shoulders.

"Good," Erza said, dropping them into a heap on the floor.

Suddenly, the doors to the guild hall swung open and Iron Rock Jura strode through them. "Where is Master Makarov?" he asked, surveying the guild.

"Here." Makarov strode down the stairs from the second floor. "What is it Jura?"

Jura moved to the side to allow Sherry through the door, followed by Lyon. Lyon was carrying a girl wrapped in his overcoat. Her long wavy blonde hair draped across his arm, almost dragging the floor.

"Oh my gosh." Mira dropped the glass she was cleaning onto the bar and covered her mouth with her hands.

The rest of the guild went silent as everyone stopped what they doing to stare at the Lamia Scale wizards.

"Is it really her?" Natsu's voice was nearly inaudible.

"I don't believe it," Erza breathed. "She's alive."

Makarov's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you. Thank you for bringing her back to us," he said as he shook Jura's hand fiercely.

Mira ran from behind the bar and took the girl from Lyon. "Her right leg is broken, so we set and bound it as well as we could," he told her.

"That's no problem," Mira said. "Thank you for everything you've done for her." Mira began carrying Evelynn up the stairs, but she stopped and looked back at Lyon. "You should stay for the party. She'll want to thank you herself." And with that, Mira disappeared up to the second floor of the guild hall.

After the shock wore off, quiet chattering once again began to circulate throughout the guild hall.

"Who was that girl Lyon was carrying?" Lucy asked, moving to sit at the table with Natsu, Erza and Grey.

"Her name is Evelynn Valkyrie," Erza answered. "She's one of Fairy Tail's strongest wizards."

"Really? I don't think I've ever seen her before today," Lucy said.

"She went missing three years ago, before you joined the guild," Grey said.

"Ten years," Natsu said quietly. "We were gone for seven, remember?"

"Natsu's right," Erza said. "It has been ten years now."

"She didn't look any different than when she left, though," Grey mentioned.

"She cast Fairy Shell," a small voice said from next to Lucy. Lucy looked over and saw Fairy Tail's First Master, Mavis, sitting next to her. "It's the same spell I cast over Tenrou Isalnd."

"That explains it," Erza said.

"But where did they find her?" Grey asked. "We scoured the area around Zonia Mountain for months."

"We found her in the Magical Law Enforcement outpost near Sherwood," Sherry said as she and Lyon walked over and sat down.

"That's halfway across the kingdom for where she was supposed to be," Erza said.

"What kind of job was she on that took her halfway across Fiore?" Lyon asked.

"If memory serves, she was on a reconnaissance mission for a century quest." Mira came over and sat down next to Erza.

"Wait, she was an S-Class wizard?!" Lucy asked, shocked. That girl looked way too tiny to be an S-Class wizard, she was only about the size of Lisanna.

"Yes," Erza said. "She went to survey the job to see if anyone in the guild could handle it or if it needed to passed up to the Wizard Saints or the Council."

"Right. The Century Quest she was surveying for mentioned sightings of a black dragon and she went to check it out," Mira told them.

"When Eva didn't come back after a week, Gildarts went looking for her and found the dragon instead," Natsu said.

"Acnologia," Lucy said quietly.

"You sent a little girl after one of Zereph's creatures?! Lyon asked incredulously. "Are you all insane?"

"I resent that," a light voice said, approaching them. "I am not a little girl."


	3. Chapter Two

The group of wizards turned to see Evelynn hobbling toward them on her crutches, uncomfortably carrying Lyon's coat. Her leg had been properly splinted and bound and her cuts and bruises had already begun healing.

"Oh, you're up," Mira said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got trampled by a horde of dragons," she said with a smile.

Suddenly Eva was enveloped by the scent of cinnamon and charcoal as two strong arms wrapped themselves around her. "I thought you were dead," Natsu breathed into her hair.

"Natsu, be careful!" Lucy said, starting to get up from the bench.

"Should you really be up and moving around already?" Lyon asked in concern.

"You know it would take a lot more than a dragon to kill me, Natsu," Eva told him quietly so the rest of them wouldn't hear her. Then she disentangled herself from Natsu, who still remained next to her, hovering. Lucy noted that he was acting awfully peculiar.

"It's alright," Eva told everyone. "I'm a lot stronger than I look and it would take a lot more than Natsu to knock me down."

Lucy, Erza and Mira scooted down the bench to make room for Eva, Mavis had disappeared somewhere, but Natsu sat down and pulled Eva onto his lap, his arms resting around her waist. Now Lucy knew something was up.

"Oh, before I forget," Eva said, turning to Lyon, "I had better give this back." She handed him is overcoat. "And I wanted to thank you for finding me; if it hadn't been for you and your team, who knows how long it would've been until someone else found me."

Lyon accepted his coat and blushed. "I – It was no problem, really." Sherry rolled her eyes.  
"Wow, you all look so much more grown up now," Eva said, turning to look around the table.

"A lot can happen in ten years," Grey said.

"But from what I've heard, you all were on Tenrou Island for seven years, right?" Eva asked. "That means you only have three years on me."

"I don't think those three years will have much of a difference where you're concerned, Eva," Mira said with a chuckle.

"I don't know about that," Eva said. "You and Erza aren't at each other's throats, Elfman's at least tripled in size and Makao and Wakaba are old now."

"We heard that!" Makao shouted from across the hall.

"We also got a few new members while you were gone," Grey said. "This is Lucy," he said, gesturing toward the celestial wizard.

Lucy waved. "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"Juvia's lurking around here somewhere, too," Grey continued, looking around the guild hall.

"Is that her? The one who looks like she might be stalking you?" Eva asked, pointing to Juvia, who was indeed stalking Grey and lurking behind a pillar. Again.

"Yeah, that's her," Grey said. "And Wendy and Carla should be along shortly. Gajeel is around here somewhere, too. You'll know him when you see him; he's kinda scary looking and eats metal."

"Wow, life sure has been exciting while I've been gone," Eva said.

"So you're an S-Class wizard, right?" Lucy asked, leaning forward.

Eva grinned. "Yep! It was just Gildarts, Mistogen and I once upon a time. Hopefully a few new people have managed to pass the test."

"Erza and I managed to scrape by Gildarts and Master Makarov," Mira said. "Just barely, though."

"Really? That's great! I'm so proud of you!" Eva congratulated them.

"Eeevaaa!" A blue blur known as Happy flew at Eva, tears in his eyes, and buried his face into Eva's chest.

Eva wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close to her. "Aww, I missed you too, Happy!"

Happy pulled away and looked up at her. "I'm so glad you're alive! Never do that again!"

Eva grinned bashfully at him. "Well, I didn't really have much of a choice, Happy." As more tears threatened to come out of Happy, she quickly added, "But I promise I'll do my best, okay?"

"Okay," Happy said, burying his face back in her chest.

Eva leaned back against Natsu, resting her head on his shoulder.

Natsu looked at her. "You overdid it, didn't you?"

Eva grinned weakly at him. "Maybe a little bit."

Natsu got up, taking Eva ad Happy with him, and grabbed Eva's crutches. Without a word to anyone else, he carried Eva up to the second floor and was lost to sight.

Once in the quiet of the infirmary, Natsu laid Eva down in the corner bed, closest to the windows. She was half-asleep by now, so he piled three or four blankets on top of her and Happy, who was still happily clutched in her arms.

Then Natsu settled next to the window, staring out of it, lost in thought. He had no idea how much time had passed, but the next time he looked over at Eva, she was sitting up against the pillows, Happy asleep in her lap. She was watching Natsu intently.

"Go on, ask," she said. "I know you want to."

"Why did you have to cast Fairy Shell?" he asked, turning back to the window.

Taken aback by a less direct question than she was expecting, Eva remained silent for a moment, watching the dragon slayer.

Natsu abruptly turned and stared her down. "What hurt you so bad you had to cast it?"

Eva looked down at Happy, who was still asleep in her lap. "Stupidity," she said quietly. "I underestimated Acnologia, Natsu. We fought in the air over Zonia Mountain. I was foolish enough to hold back, thinking that if I could prolong the fight with him, Zereph would finally show himself."

Eva stopped speaking for a moment, gathering her memories and her words to describe them. "Acnologia flung me halfway across Fiore," she continued. "I remember falling through the ceiling of that outpost. I remember the shocked faces of the soldiers in the Magical Law Enforcement Unit. I remember their fear as Acnologia came in after me. Then my priority was protecting the soldiers, the innocent men who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So I erased their memories and knocked them unconscious, sending them outside the castle. However, Acnologia was solely focused on me."

Eva gestured to herself. "This is a walk in the park compared to what he did to me before he left me for dead. I healed myself as much as I could, but I was beginning to wonder if I was going to die, Natsu. I really did."

Eva hadn't noticed she'd started crying until Natsu kneeled next to her and wiped her tears away.

"I knew that if anyone came looking for me, there was no way they could defeat Acnologia," Eva went on. "There was no way I was going to just give up when my family needed me, so I cast Fairy Shell with what was left of my magic power, but I made it so it would deactivate if a member of Fairy Tail, a Wizard Saint or a Council member found me. I just never expected it to take so long."

"I should have gone with you," Natsu said as the memory of the day she left resurfaced once again.

 _"_ _Hey, Natsu," Eva leaned against the table where Natsu and Happy were eating lunch. "I'm going on a job up on Zonia Mountain. Wanna come?"_

 _Natsu answered her with his face full of food. "Nah. There's rumors of a fire dragon in the south, so Happy and I are gonna go check it out and see if it's Igneel."_

 _"_ _Okay! Be safe you two!" Eva called as she walked out the door to the guild hall. "See you in a week!"_

"If I had gone with you, this wouldn't have happened," Natsu growled.

"Don't be silly, Natsu," Eva said seriously, wiping the tears off her face. "It wouldn't hav made a difference."

After Natsu hadn't returned downstairs after an hour, Mira went upstairs to the infirmary to check on the trio.

Natsu was sitting on the bed, holding Eva, whose head rested against his chest. Happy was nestled in between them and all three were sound asleep.

Mira smiled. Their family was whole again.


	4. Chapter Three

Lucy watched Natsu carry Eva up the stairs then asked Mira, "Is there something going on between those two? Natsu's been acting kinda weird."

Mira smiled. "Oh, Natsu's just beating himself up about not going with her on that job."

"You don't know much about dragon slayers, do you?" Gajeel asked, sauntering over to them.

"No, we don't. Why?" Erza asked.

"It's pretty obvious that Salamander's bonded with the girl," Gajeel said. "It's one of the things that comes from wielding dragon slaying magic. Every slayer has the instincts of a dragon and that includes their mating instincts."

"What does that mean for Eva?" Erza asked.

"I don't know if either of them has realized he's bonded to her yet,"" Gajeel explained. "It must have happened when they were young. However, since Natsu's bonded with her, she'll have to agree to be his mate. No one can control a dragon when their mate refuses. All their reasoning goes out the window."

"What exactly is this bond you keep talking about?" Lyon asked.

"Metalicana told me that every dragon has a…soulmate, for lack of a better term. When two soulmates find each other, a bond, like an invisible rope, binds the two together. If one of them refuses the mating, that bond gets severed and everything that dragon was, thoughts, memories, hopes, dreams, everything, ceases to exist." Gajeel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Although, there's something about that girl that throws me off. She doesn't smell right."

"That sounds awfully cheesy to me," Lucy pointed out. "You only hear about soulmates in fairy tales."

"Do I look like I'm lyin'?" Gajeel growled.

Erza smirked. "Have you found your soulmate, then, Gajeel?"

Gajeel's face flushed a bit and he glanced over at Levy, who was reading a book at the bar. "Maybe."

"Considering you haven't gone insane yet, I assume she's said yes?" Lyon asked with a smirk.

"I haven't asked her yet," Gajeel said quietly. "Anyway, this ain't about me, it's about that flame brained Salamander!"

"I trust Natsu's judgement. I'm sure he's knows everything you've told us," Erza said, standing up from the table. "He's not as dumb as he looks."

"So, what would happen to Eva if she refused to be Natsu's mate?" Lucy asked, looking up at Gajeel, who was practically glaring daggers between Erza and Lyon.

He glanced down at her. "If she does, he'll lose it and he might accidentally kill her."

Well, let's hope Natsu knows what he's doing for once, Lucy thought. Otherwise, this is going to be a catastrophe.


	5. Chapter Four

It was weird, Lucy thought. Eva had only been back in the guild for a few days wand everything was back to normal already. Eva fit in with the guild like a missing puzzle piece that had just been found.

Eva's presence had already surprised multiple members of the guild, including Laxus and Gildarts yesterday.

The guild doors burst open and Laxus walked in, flanked by the Thunder Legion. Laxus started walking toward over to the bar while Freed, Bixlow and Evergreen claimed a table.

"How was the job, Laxus?" Mira asked as Laxus leaned against the bar.

Laxus shrugged. "It was just some bandits. It was a piece of cake."

"That's good to hear," Mira said with a smile. "Is there anything I can get you?"

Before he could answer Mira, an excited voice could be heard over the crowd. "Laxus!"

Eva practically ran toward Laxus, well, as close as she could come to it with crutches, anyway. She had gotten quite fast on her crutches; having to constantly dodge Natsu and Grey when they fought had its perks.

Eva was mere feet away from Laxus when she stumbled and fell.

Luckily Laxus caught her before she hit the floor and carefully held her in his arms.

Eva beamed up at him. "Thanks, big brother!"

Lucy leaned over to Cana and whispered. "Is Laxus really Eva's big brother?!"

Cana took a swig from her keg. "Nah. When they were younger, Laxus used to rescue her from all sorts of things. Mostly Grey and Natsu's antics, but she only started calling him her big brother when she got trapped in a cave upon Mount Hakobe and he rescued her."

"Wow," Lucy said quietly. "I didn't know Laxus such a nice guy." She returned her attention to Laxus and Eva.

Laxus looked at Eva with wide eyes and then reached up and poked her in the cheek, making her wrinkle her nose. He shrugged. "Well, you feel real to me."

"That was anticlimactic," Lucy said to Cana.

"Just wait. The show's just starting."

Instead of putting her down. Laxus carried her over to the Thunder Legion. "Hey guys, look what I found."

Freed stared at them in shock before passing out in an ungainly heap on the floor.

Bixlow was in the middle of taking a drink from his mug and dropped it, the mug rolling across the table and falling off the edge, clonking Freed in the head on the way down.

As the most composed member of the trio, Evergreen was merely in shock, staring at Eva and Laxus with her jaw almost on the floor.

Laxus looked at them in confusion. "What's up with you guys?"

Evergreen pointed at Eva. "Eva's…alive. She's really here, Laxus."

"You mean I'm not dreaming this time?!" Laxus shouted, dropping Eva in surprise.

Bixlow dived across the table and caught Eva right before she hit the floor. "You gotta be careful, man. Natsu'd kill you if you hurt her," he said to Laxus, who had pretty much passed out next to Freed.

"Wow. Who knew Laxus could lose his composure like that," Lucy said, turning to Cana.

Cana was practically rolling around on the table, laughing her ass off.

Just then, the guild doors opened again and Gildarts strode into the hall. He immediately walked to the bar and asked Mira for a drink.

Bixlow stepped over his fallen comrades and carried Eva over to the bar. He set her on a bar stool next to Gildarts and went to try and revive Laxus and Freed.

Gildarts glanced over at Eva while Mira handed him a drink. He took a sip of it and looked over at Eva again. He swallowed and sighed. "I knew it, I'm dead."

Eva grinned at him. "No, but it sounds like you gave it your best shot."

"Jura found Eva and brought her back," Mira said as Gildarts took another drink, which he promptly spit out.

"What?!" he turned to look at Eva. "You're alive?"

Eva opened her mouth to explain, but she was enveloped by a pair of arms and the edges of a cloak.

Gildarts hugged her so hard, she thought he might crack a couple of her ribs.

"I'm so happy you're alive," Gildarts said, pulling away from her. "When I couldn't find you on Zonia Mountain, I though Achnologia had killed you. And you were gone for so long, I-″ he stopped abruptly, staring at her cast.

"Who did that to you?" Gildarts asked, suddenly angry. "Was it that idiot Natsu? It was, wasn't it?"

Before Eva had the chance to tell him, Gildarts was already over picking a fight with Natsu, who had already picked a fight with Grey.

"Hey, flame brain," Gildarts growled. "Did you hurt Eva?"

Natsu looked at him, completely confused. "What?! There's no way-″

"You sure about that?" Laxus asked, standing next to Gildarts with his lightning crackling around him.

Eva threw Gildarts' empty beer mug at the back of his head. It ricocheted off and smacked Laxus. It was like all men just jump into fights willy nilly and leave their brains behind.

Both Gildarts and Laxus turned around to see Eva glaring at them. If looks could kill, the pair of them would be dead thrice over.

"You boneheads!" she exclaimed. "You both just conveniently forgot that I went to scope out Achnologia, didn't you? And did it cross those itty-bitty minds of yours that maybe, just maybe, Achnologia broke my leg? Apparently not!" Eva sighed in frustration. "By Mavis, men are stupid."

Eva looked over at Lucy. "Lucy, can you get my crutches for me? I want to get out of here before I do something I might regret."

Lucy immediately scrambled up and grabbed Eva's crutches, handing them to her.

Eva carefully hopped off the bar stool and turned to Lucy. "Thanks. Want to come on a walk with me so I don't commit murder?"

Lucy grinned. "Sure." She'd wanted to get to know Eva better, especially since everyone in the guild liked her so well.

"Here!" Mira said, setting a basket on the bar top. "I made you guys some snacks so you can have a picnic instead of being cooped up in here with those idiots."

Lucy beamed. "Thanks, Mira!" She grabbed the picnic basket and she and Eva walked out the door.

Natsu took a step as if to come with them, but Eva glared at him.

"Don't even think about it."

And with that, the girls left the guild hall to its chaos and went on their own small adventure.


	6. Chapter Five

On the outskirts of Magnolia, there lied a small lake. Rumors said that on a full moon, fire spirits came and danced on the lake, hovering just above the water. The spirits were nigh impossible to catch, but if one managed to catch a fire spirit, they would grant you one wish; anything your heart desired.

It was on the shores of this lake that Eva and Lucy took their picnic. Eva picked a nice grassy spot near the edge of the lake that wasn't too far away, but wasn't close enough for her or Lucy to fall in. Eva sat carefully on the grass, setting her crutches within easy reach, and Lucy unpacked the picnic basket before sitting across from Eva.

Mira had packed them cold chicken, sandwiches, pastries and bottles of apple juice. Both girls dug into the meal heartily for several minutes.

"So, Eva, what was like being around Natsu when you two were younger?" Lucy asked after she swallowed a bite of sandwich.

Eva set her sandwich down next to her. "Honestly, not much has changed. Well, other than he's seemed to confine picking fights with Grey, Laxus and Erza. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious. The topic never seems to come up in the guild, so I don't know what Natsu was like when he was younger," Lucy explained. "Other than he seemed to hang out with Lisanna a lot."

Eva smiled. "Yeah, he and Lisanna were great friends for most of the childhood that Natsu spent at Fairy Tail."

"Wait a sec, Gajeel said something about Natsu bonding with you? It's like some side effect of dragon slaying magic." Lucy said. She looked at Eva curiously. "How did that work when you were younger and Natsu spent so much time with Lisanna?"

"When Natsu, Lisanna and I were younger, all three of us used to play together. I was off on jobs and quests a lot back then, though, so Natsu and Lisanna played together by themselves a lot. But to answer your question, Lucy, Natsu and I bonded many years before he came to Fairy Tail."

"How?" Lucy asked. Natsu was very young when he had come to Fairy Tail, so it must have been when he still lived with Igneel.

"I was visiting Igneel, the fire dragon," Eva said. "He's a good friend of mine and he helped me finish my training."

"Your training?" Lucy asked. "Are you a dragon slayer too?!"

Eva looked at Lucy in surprise. "Didn't you know? I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer like Natsu."

"Seriously?" Lucy exclaimed. "I didn't know there could be two dragon slayers that used the same element." And Fairy Tail has both of them. No wonder people are afraid of them.

Eva nodded. "It's not as common now as it was in the past. Generally a dragon slayer has the main element that they are extremely adept at and that's as far as they go. Every dragon slayer has the capacity to master more types of slaying magic if they so choose; the training is much more difficult than it was for the first type of slaying magic, however, which deters many slayers. In most cases, the training for the second element is so rigorous, the slayer in question will merely adapt the spells that work with them and their first type of slaying magic."

"So it's like Natsu's Lightning Fire Dragon Mode or whatever?" Lucy asked.

Eva grinned. "Yep. He's adapted Laxus' lightning and incorporated it into his own fire magic."

"Wow," Lucy said. "Do you practice more than one type of slaying magic, Eva?"

Eva fidgeted slightly and looked extremely uncomfortable. "Er, Lucy, you're a Celestial Mage, right? That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I am!" Lucy took her keys off her belt and showed them to Eva. "The silver keys are common spirits, like Nikola, and the gold keys belong to the twelve Zodiac spirits. I have ten of them," Lucy said proudly.

"That's impressive, Lucy. Good job!" Eva said, a hint of pride in her voice at her new friend's accomplishments.

Lucy grinned at Eva. "Wanna meet some of my spirits?"

"Of course!"

Lucy stood up and walked a few steps away. She grabbed one of her silver keys and said, "Open, Gate of the Little Dog: Nikola!"

In a flash of bright light, a small, white, almost snowman looking spirit appeared. Lucy picked it up and carried it over to Eva.

"This is Plu," she said. Plu waved at Eva and she waved back. All of a sudden, Plu disappeared.

Lucy looked down in alarm. "I – I didn't close his gate!"

A brilliant flash of bright light nearly blinded Lucy and Eva.

"Don't worry, Lucy," a sexy voice said. "Plu closed his gate to come to me." A tall man in a sharp black suit was revealed as the golden light dissipated. "He had some very important information to give me." The man adjusted his glasses with a finger.

"Loki?" Lucy exclaimed in surprise.

Loki grinned. "Miss me, Lu?"

Before Lucy could say anything to the flirtatious spirit, several more flashes of light occurred in quick succession, eleven in all.

As the light dissipated, all twelve of the Zodiac spirits were standing in front of Lucy and Eva; ten of Lucy's and the two Yukino contracted with, Libra and Pisces.

"What are you all doing here?" Lucy asked. They must all be here on their own power because Lucy knew there was no way she could have summoned all of them.

Scorpio grinned. "Plu informed us that one our own has returned to the land of the living."

Lucy glanced at Eva with a confused expression on her face but was just as bewildered at the expression on Eva's face. Eva was sitting in the grass, knees drawn up to her chest, her hands covering her mouth and there were tears in her eyes as she stared at the celestial spirits in front of her.

A muffled "Oh my god," came from Eva.

"I still don't understand," Lucy said, looking between the spirits and Eva. "What's going on here?"

"Eva is a Celestial Dragon Slayer," Ares said timidly.

"We and her dragon, Selena, trained her, baby," Cancer said, snipping his scissors in the air.

"They came to help me when I fought Achnologia," Eva said, her voice still muffled. She grabbed her crutches and struggled to stand up. "I'm so glad you're all okay!" Eva couldn't control her emotions anymore and the tears flowed freely. She slipped and fell as her vision was blinded by tears.

Loki caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her in his arms. He smiled down at her. "Hey now, no more of that," he said as he wiped Eva's tears away.

"We chose to come help you," Virgo said as she walked over to Loki. She gave Eva a hug.

"You're part of our family," Aquarius said. "We protect our own, Evelynn."

Lucy smiled. As surprised as she was to find out that Eva was a Celestial Dragon Slayer, she was overjoyed to meet someone who saw celestial spirits as family, just as she did. Everything that Eva had been feeling, that something had happened to her celestial family because of her, regardless of whether it was her fault or not, was the exact same thing that Lucy would be feeling in her place. She couldn't stand the idea of something happening to her spirits because of the consequences of her actions.

As the day wore on into late afternoon, the members of the zodiac returned to the spirit world. It was amazing to see how they interacted with Eva, someone, as far as Lucy knew, they had no contractual obligation to. She was a member of their family, no doubt about it.

At length, the only celestial spirit left was Loki. Lucy knew his magic power was vast, so she wasn't too worried about him tiring himself out.

Eva had over done it while the spirits were here, so she was fast asleep in Loki's arms. He laid her gently on the grass and covered her with his suit jacket before sitting next to Lucy.

Loki glanced over at Lucy. "What's up, Lucy? Looks like something's bothering you."

Lucy looked over at Loki. "I'm not jealous or anything, I actually think it's wonderful, but why do you and the other spirits have such a good relationship with someone who's not contracted to you? I love that you guys treat Eva like family, I was just curious why."

Loki looked out at the lake. He watched the water lap against the shore for a few minutes before answering his wizard. "A Celestial Dragon Slayer is extremely rare, Lucy. Before Selena found Eva, there hadn't been a Celestial Dragon Slayer in over five hundred years."

"Not many young wizards can handle the strain of learning both celestial magic and dragon slaying magic and then merging the two together," Loki continued. "Eva, however, is extraordinary even in comparison to past Celestial Dragon Slayers." Loki paused and looked at Lucy, who was listening to him intently. After a few moments he continued.

"Eva can summon all thirteen Zodiac spirits. At once. Regardless of whether we have a contract with a celestial wizard or not."

Lucy's jaw dropped open. "Seriously? How strong is she?!"

Loki sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Strong enough to be seen as a target by Achnologia, it seems." He took a shuddering breath. "Selena made me promise to protect Eva. I swore an oath to protect her with my life and I failed. I failed and she nearly died." Loki clenched his fist in anger. Loki stared at Lucy. "Do you know why she had to cast Fairy Shell? Why Achnologia nearly killed her? Because she didn't want any of us to get hurt protecting her. She _sealed_ our gates and used up too much of her magic power maintaining it."

Lucy rested her hand on Loki's arm to calm him down. "It's not your fault, Loki. There was nothing you could do if she sealed your gates. Could you ask her to carry around the guilt if one of you got hurt or even killed protecting her?"

Loki sighed and relaxed and unclenched his fist. "No, I couldn't."

Lucy smiled reassuringly at him. "Of course you couldn't. That's why what happened to Karen bothered you for so many years."

Eva shifted in her sleep. "Natsu," she murmured quietly.

Lucy smiled to herself. She had to admit, the idea of the two dragon slayers being together was pretty adorable.

Loki stood up with a sigh and stretched. He carefully picked up Eva, wrapping her more securely in his jacket as he did so. "Come on, Lucy. We better get back to the guild before nightfall, or Natsu will send out a search party."

Lucy grinned and grabbed both the packed picnic basket and Eva's crutches, following Loki back through Fiore.


	7. Chapter Six

Natsu paced back and forth through the guild hall. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back. And Forth. For hours. Erza was about ready to slap him.

"They should've been back by now," Natsu grumbled.

"Chill out, Natsu," Grey said, leaning against a table. "Eva and Lucy can take care of themselves, y'know."

Erza sighed as Natsu began to wear a hole in floor. "If they aren't back by sunset, we'll go looking for them, alright? And, Grey, put some clothes on."

Grey looked down and was properly horrified to discover he was no longer wearing pants.

"I wouldn't worry about sending out a search party," Mira said. She was wiping down the bar and pointed out the open guild hall doors. "Here they come now."

Sure enough, as the sun was beginning to die, Lucy was walking up the lane with Loki, who was carrying Eva. She was covered in his suit jacket, fast asleep.

"I'm going to take Eva up to the infirmary," Loki told Lucy as they walked into the guild. He headed up to the second floor, expertly avoiding Natsu. Once in the infirmary, Loki laid Eva in a bed in the corner of the room, by the windows. He covered her with a couple of blankets, making sure she was tucked in and grabbed his jacket, walking back out of the room.

He passed the glimmering apparition of First Master Mavis peering around the door frame. She shifted in and out of focus, a sign that she was nervous.

Loki stopped and smiled at Mavis. "She blames herself, you know."

Mavis looked up at him.

"She'd love to see you. She's missed you like crazy," Loki continued as he continued downstairs.

Mavis nodded, a determined look on her face as she watched Eva.

 _Eva tossed fitfully in the infirmary bed. She woke up, gasping for air._

 _She sat up in the bed, the cool night breeze coming in from the open windows sending chills down her spine. Eva stilled, she thought she heard something coming in through the window._

 _"_ _Come to me, Eva." A dark, chilling voice echoed through the darkness. Eva knew that voice, it haunted her very existence._

 _She stood, gathering a blanket around her shoulders and looked out the window. Standing in the grass, staring at her, was the very person she had been waiting to see again for centuries._

 _The breeze ruffled his black hair, covering eyes as black as death, eyes she loathed. Eyes that were staring straight up at her. Zeref._

 _He beckoned Eva to follow him and turned, walking into the forest. Eva blinked and found herself standing on the grass outside the guild hall, staring after the Dark Wizard. Her feet began moving of their own accord toward the forest. Toward Zeref. Probably toward her demise._

 _The woods were dark and dense, only slivers of moonlight filtered through the thick canopy. Eva lost track of time and after a while she walked into a clearing where Zeref was waiting for her. Eva tried to speak but no sound came out._

 _A strong wind suddenly beat down on the clearing, bending the trees nearly in half. Eva looked up and saw the large black body of Achnologia. The dragon landed and roared._

 _Eva covered her ears but she could still hear Zeref's voice clear as day in her head. "Come to me."_

 _Then Achnologia opened his mouth once more and a ball of flames erupted from him. Eva had no control of her body, so she was unable to dodge the ball of fire headed straight for her. Eva opened her mouth to scream…_

…and woke up.

Eva sat up in the infirmary bed, panting. Sweat made her clothes stick to her body. She took a few deep, calming breaths and felt her heart beat slow. She looked around the room, the darkness was only penetrated by slivers of moonlight shining through the windows. She sighed in relief. It was only a dream.

Something near the end of the bed caught Eva's eye. "Mavis?" she asked quietly. "I must still be dreaming."

Fairy Tail's First Master shook her head, walking over to the side of Eva's bed. "No, you're not dreaming."

"Then how? How are you here? You're – you're dead," Eva said, tears coming to her eyes.

Mavis looked at the floor. "When the competitors for the S-Class competition were trapped on Tenrou Island, Zeref's power woke my spirit. I doubt he meant to do it, but luckily I was able to save the island and the members of the guild within Fairy Shell."

Eva launched herself at Mavis, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I missed you, sister."

Mavis was surprised at first, but relaxed and returned her little sister's hug. "You're not mad?"

Eva pulled away and looked into her sister's eyes, hands still resting on Mavis's shoulders. "At first I was furious. How could I not be? You threw yourself between me and Zeref and because of that he killed you."

"There was no way I was going to let him hurt you," Mavis said, staring at Eve with a smoldering fire in her eyes. "I didn't care if I died as long as you lived. When I woke on Tenrou, I immediately scanned the memories of the guild members and found that you had gone missing. No one knew if you were alive or dead, so I decided to come back with the guild to look for you. I tried to track down Zeref, but there was no sign of him or Achnologia after the events on the island."

"I have a feeling that we'll see Zeref and Achnologia soon enough," Eva said with a shudder.

Eva laid back down on the bed and scooted over to the far side so Mavis could climb in with her like they did when Eva was still a child.

Mavis crawled into the bed and Eva cuddled up next to her. She could still smell the honeysuckle from the meadows outside Magnolia where she and Mavis used to train and the forests where they would go looking for sprites when they were much, much younger. All of these scents were embedded into Mavis, even in this form. Eva didn't care that Mavis didn't have her physical body anymore, she was just happy to have her sister back with her once again.

"I remember laying like this those first few days after Blue Skull attacked Red Lizard on Tenrou," Eva mumbled quietly.

Memories of having to hide Eva in Red Lizard's guild hall for the two years she had been "working off" their parent's debt surfaced in Mavis's mind, as well as the quiet life the pair of them lived with the apparition of Zera, Red Lizard's guild master's daughter, who had died the night of the attack. Mavis had unknowingly created the illusion that Zera was still alive and both she and Eva had believed it for years.

Their life hadn't been all that bad, Mavis mused as she stroked her little sister's hair, thinking back on the photograph hanging in Makarov's office of her, Warrod, Precht and Makarov's father standing in front of Fairy Tail's first guild hall. Eva had been the one that insisted on taking the photograph to commemorate their very own guild and now Mavis was glad she had. How quickly things changed after that.

If Precht and his band of treasure hunters hadn't come to the island in search of the Tenrou Jade, she and Eva would probably still be on that island, completely oblivious to the world around them and Fairy Tail would never existed, let alone achieve the amazing things they've done.

"You're forgetting that if we hadn't left, you wouldn't have had the opportunity to cast an incomplete Fairy Law and you wouldn't be stuck in the body of a thirteen year old," Eva mentioned, her head buried in Mavis's dress.

"It was worth it," Mavis told her. "Even if it looks like I'm the little sister."

Eva giggled. "I still have some big shoes to fill."

Mavis smiled. "You've already filled them. From what Makarov has told me, you stayed with the guild all this time and protected them. I hear they still call you the Fairy Slayer."

Eva looked up at her sister. "Only the older wizards know me as the Fairy Slayer. There was little need for my abilities in the years before I disappeared. As far as the younger generation knows, I'm either one other dragon slayer or they don't know I exist."

Mavis patted the top of Eva's head. "They'll know you soon enough I think. We'll need your talents against Zeref and Achnologia."

"Did you have the dream too?" Eva asked.

Mavis nodded. "Every night since you came home."

Eva sighed and hugged her sister tighter. "I had hoped it wouldn't come to this. I didn't want to have to be me again. I never wanted to have to be the Fairy Slayer again, but it's my duty to protect Fairy Tail and Magnolia."

Mavis stroked Eva's hair. "Don't worry. This time we'll be together."

A few hours later Makarovs was on one of his late night walks when he stopped and checked in on Eva in the infirmary. He was pleasantly surprised to see Eva curled up next to Mavis, fast asleep. Mavis had fallen asleep, her hand still tangled in her sister's hair.

Makarov walked over to the bed and gently covered the two sisters with a blanket and left, smiling to himself.


End file.
